The Japanese government denies Trump pressures in favor of casino magnate
The Japanese government denied today that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has received pressure from US President Donald Trump to treat casino mogul Sheldon Adelson favorably.
The government spokesman Yoshihide Suga, in his daily press conference, went to the step of a note disseminated in the last hours by the information portal ProPublica in which picks up those alleged pressure from Trump in favor of Adelson and his firm Las Vegas Sands.
According to ProPublica, in 2017 Trump told Abe that he should consider Adelson to grant him a license to build a large casino in Japan, at a time when the Japanese authorities were reviewing legislation in that regard.
On that occasion, Abe did not respond and thanked Trump for the information, according to one of the sources cited by ProPublica.
The Japanese government spokesman recalled today that last July, when Abe was consulted on the matter in Parliament, the prime minister rejected that Trump had transferred specific requests on the installation of casinos in Japan.
"It's just as the prime minister had said" on that occasion, affirmed Suga. "There is nothing else," the spokesman insisted.
Adelson has casinos in the United States, Singapore and Macao, and in 2014 he tried to install the Eurovegas complex in the province of Madrid, which did not succeed because the Spanish authorities refused to accept certain tax requirements.
The billionaire supported with millions of dollars the electoral campaign of Trump to the presidency and maintains a close relationship with the American ruler.
